de Sevigne, and replete
with precious portraits of herself, her own and her husband's families, in
addition to a quantity of beautiful furniture dating from her time.
It took us, I think, altogether two days to reach Laval, where, after
securing accommodation at one of the hotels, we went out in search of
news, having heard none since we had started on our journey. Perceiving a
newspaper shop, we entered it, and my father insisted on purchasing a copy
of virtually every journal which was on sale there. Unfortunately for us,
this seemed highly suspicious to a local National Guard who was in the
shop, and when we left it he followed us. My father had just then begun to
speak to me in English, and at the sound of a foreign tongue the man's
suspicions increased. So he drew nearer, and demanded to know who and what
we were. I replied that we were English and that I had previously been
authorised to accompany the army as a newspaper correspondent. My
statements, however, were received with incredulity by this suspicious
individual, who, after one or two further inquiries, requested us to
accompany him to a guard-house standing near one of the bridges thrown
over the river Mayenne.
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